March 24, 2008

A ten meter rope is looped through a pulley attached to the ceiling.Half the rope dangles on one side, the other half on the other. At one end of the rope is tied a one kilo bunch of bananas.At the other end of the rope is a one kilo monkey.If the monkey tries to climb the rope, what will happen?

11 comments:

I think monkey will getr down because , when money is trying to climb up , the center of mass will be pushed up towards the pulley . But the center of mass is sistuated at the same place on other end (banana's end) . so to equate the masses at both ends , center of mass at money end should get down , which happens only when ropes comes down some length towrds monkey's end .Gopi.kgopikrishnakomanduri@yahoo.com

IT DEPENDS ON HOW MONKEY IS CLIMBING THE ROPE.IF IT IS CLIMBING WITH CONSTANT VELOCITY NOTHING WILL HAPPEN TO POSITION OF BANANA.IF MONKEY IS ACCELERATING OR DEACC. WHILE CLIMBING THEN BANANA WILL MOVE UP OR DOWN RESPECTIVELY.

The monkey cannot climb at a constant velocity. The monkey starts out in a stopped position. If it maintains velocity it must remain stopped. It HAS to accelerate in order to start climbing. This will pull the bananas up. The monkey will stay in the same spot (approx - there are other factors such as friction) until the bananas reach the pulley. They will get stuck and then the monkey can go up. Where is he going though? Does he want the bananas? If so he can just reach over and grab them. How far down is the floor? Are there any crocodiles or anything?

The bananas are also at rest. Since they weigh the same as the monkey and are subjected to the same accelerating forces (gravity + monkey pulling on rope), they will move EXACTLY as the monkey does. It doesn't matter whether the monkey is constantly accelerating, reaches a terminal velocity, or even stops and starts again - they will maintain the same height with respect to each other. Obviously, if you wish to include real-world friction, it will mean that the bananas will lag slightly behind until limiting friction is overcome and the monkey stops accelerating.

monkey wouldn't climb the rope as because the banana beside.. if the monkey doesn't know that is banana then it may climb either side both tries will pull down the banana as it leave the hand to climb the rope again